Amazon.com: Kershaw S30V Blur Pocketknife, 3.4" S30V Powdered Stainless Steel Recurved Blade, Assisted Thumb-Stud Opening EDC : Tools & Home Improvement

This knife should put Benchmade to shame (I have a few too many of those). Since I got this one, aside from some minor gripes discussed below, it's my new favorite EDC.Pros:1. Fantastic quality (so far) knife with a generous and functional S30V blade. Go find a knife with that steel that's well executed, is under a Benjamin and is US-made.2. Aluminum handles with well thought out steel (or something else?) liners.3. Liner lock - those can fail, but Kershaw did a good job grinding this one just right (at least on mine they did). Some liner locks can have an issue with under or over fitting of the spring - i.e. you don't get a full lock up on the back of the blade or the spring overshoots the stop and is hard to dis-engage. This one is about 93% perfect (pretty good, that is).4. The clip, which I was hesitant about due to two screw mount, is actually pretty nice and is just the right profile not to annoy the user when carried.5. Also, the clip can be repositioned for tip-up carry. By default, it comes in the tip-down carry position. So you get to dial in your preference.6. There is no extra plastic/metal along the spine - so water/dirt can just pass through.7. Just the overall size and feel - the knife with such a usable/size-able blade should feel larger, but this one does not - so it rides nice and skinny in your pocket (some, with larger hands, might find a bit too skinny). The aluminum handle balances the blade of decent heft just about right too.8. The traction inserts - awesome - normally, with aluminum handles, manufacturers choose to just push cross-hashes in the handle for grip, which can feel pretty bad on your hands. This one has rubberized inserts which feel great and give a very positive grip. I suppose, the possible downside is that they could eventually tear off. Then again, Kershaw is know to stand behind their stuff.9. Oh - the blade. If you are not a fan of a re-curved grind - may not be your thing then (I am not, but do like this one). It's a very good size, thickness (don't go prying and splitting branches with it - it's not a Swamp Rat), sharpness is "satisfactory" out of the box. It almost resembles a decent clip/spear-point in general geometry, but plus the re-curve. Overall - about 93% grade on the blade (a lot of other knifes coming in at, say, 77.5% even in a lot higher price ranges).10. The speed-assist - beautiful. Frankly, why bother with an automatic for most of us "mere mortals" when you can have nearly as fast and legal deployment? Oh, and for half the price... Some complain that the assist is too aggressive. I'd say on mine, it's about perfect. Have fun with it if you get one - I couldn't put mine down for about a week.Cons:1. The thumb studs. Yes, they are "revolutionary" by having the slant and do provide positive engagement. But they were very sharply cut out of the box (I actually cut my hands on them a couple of times while sliding my hand in to the pocket with the knife in there). However, a few minutes with a Swiss-file did the trick. Hence, not a major con.2. This is more of negative - the washers/bushings are too small in diameter. Yes, they had to make an engineering decision to accommodate the spring-assist mechanism, but it does look like they could've gone a bit bigger on the diameter. One of the worst things to happen to a good folder is side to side play due to bad washers/bushings (have returned/tossed more than one knife because of that - Vantage comes to mind - then again that one was CHEAP as in cheaply made). So far, so good on the bushings, but will keep watching that one.3. If there a lefty? I am right-handed and, in a pinch, could use this one with a left hand, but for the full-time lefties it would be nice to have a dedicated version (unlike the Axis-Lock(TM), liner locks are not ambidextrous, which is one of their non-numerous disadvantages).So far, can't think of anything else. The more I looked at this knife for negatives, the more positives I found. You will, most likely, spend hundreds, if not thousands, on knives before you will come a full circle and realize that knives such as this one are an amazing bang-for-the-buck (counting quality, materials, design, execution, place-of-origin).

I've been wanting this knife for nearly 3 years. The reason I never bought it was because, for the Sandvick steel version, I felt that it was a little too expensive for that steel, and a little too close in price to the S30V version. But at the same time, I didn't want to pay the S30V price because I'd never used the steel, or held this knife, so I didn't know If I'd like it. But when I saw that the S30V version was actually a few dollars cheaper (at the time that I bought it. It may have gone back up) than the regular version, I had to snag it. And for the price of just over $50, it's an easy 5 stars.The knife itself is a little bigger than what I was used to, but I found that I didn't mind, or even notice, the extra space it took up because it's really light. In a good way, not a cheap feeling way.The blade on the knife is also really fantastic. With its tall blade profile, and thin grind, it makes it an excellent slicer. It actually slices better than my Delica 4 from Spyderco. And the recurve is fantastic as well. It's not enough of one to mess you up when sharpening, but it is enough to help in the cutting performance. It's got that really big (for a folder) belly that just slides effortlessly through material, that comes to an excellent tip. An absolute perfect blade shape, in my opinion.The S30V steel is pretty wicked, too. I can kind of see why people rave about these "super steels". It's not only the fact that they can hold their edges longer, it's also the fact that you can get the edge sharper and finer. I have a few pocket knives made with different steels, and I can work with all of them and get them sharp enough to shave and all that. But this S30V just takes it to a different level. And I can only imagine that it gets better with even better "super steels". About sharpening, I found it very easy to put a super sharp edge back on this knife when I needed to. Yeah, it took a little longer than, say, the VG10 on the Delica 4, or the Sandvick steel on my Kershaw Leek. But it wasn't more difficult.Overall, I really like this knife a lot. Having used it a fair bit, I wouldn't hesitate to drop the coin on this knife.